I've played around with the program you linked me to, and I have to say, its pretty cool, though its definitely not a TRUE VB editor. Its got 98% of the features of a windows IDE, and its very intuitive, but you can definitely tell there is something different about it. If you're any good at coding though, you can just hard code in the options they dont give you, like for instance font style etc...

The free key lasts 6 months, so if you could find a way to crack it open and reset the counter, it would be most helpful. This is slightly illegal, but to be honest, as long as you don't reproduce it and distribute, no one will care. I've found literally dozens of cracked licenses like that for various programs throughout the years.

I am a slight advocate of FreeBasic:http://www.freebasic.net/You should also download the FBIDE editor. It is of course free as the name says.There are advantages and disadvantages to using it:It is easy to use.It is easy to write clear understandable codeIt is easy to do graphics and get keyboard input.

The main problem is that it does not incorporate a worthwhile debugger. That is quite some deficiency for a beginning programmer or even a well versed programmer!There are more free programming languages on:http://www.thefreecountry.com/I don't think the list there is exhaustive. I am sure there are many on SourceForge if I could figure out how to search SourceForge effectively.

I love basic. It was the first language I learned to program on my Timex/Sinclair, and, while it wasn't the first language I was paid to use (that was COBOL), I have spent most of my career (which started before many of you were born) coding in various flavors of basic including every version of VB since 1.0 (except for 2.0 which I never even saw).

I don't program in basic anymore. I use php, java, c, progress (don't ask), and occasionally python, c++, perl, ruby, and even C# once.

If you are programming as a hobby, then use VB, freebasic, or any other language that you enjoy. If you intend to make a career of programming, then don't spend a lot of time on basic. It isn't that basic isn't a great language, it is, and it isn't that it is less capable than other languages (despite what fanatics will tell you, most languages can do most things equally well), it is just that basic doesn't pay as well, and it doesn't get as much respect in the IT world.

Go to monster and do a search for VB (or realbasic or freebasic) jobs, and then do a search for php or c or java. You will find some VB, zero realbasic or freebasic, and a bunch of the others.

If you are interested in hardware programming, then learn c. If you are interested in web programming, then learn php and mysql (and even javascript). If you are interested in business programming (which pays my rent), then learn sql, C#, java, php, and even VB.

Or... just realize that syntax is easy (and is in the manual), and you can probably program in any language you want if you have learned a few. . . but do learn a few.